Shubman Gill’s story is one of perseverance, hard work, unbelievable talent and also the sacrifices of a family that moved out of its comfort zone to build a career for their beloved child. Lakhwinder Singh, his father, is a farmer, as is his grandfather. They hail from Fazilka, a small village on the India-Pakistan border. We remember talking to Lakhwinder just after his son had scored a stylish hundred against Pakistan at the U-19 World Cup in 2018. It was a near flawless innings. You didn’t want to get up while this kid was batting. Tall and upright, languid and sinewy, all at the same time.
“We fully supported him in achieving his dream to become a cricketer,” Lakhwinder told us that day. “We dedicated 15 years to ensuring that he fulfils his ambition. We even left our work and skipped several family functions, including marriage ceremonies of our relatives, so we could dedicate as much time as we could.”
For cute little Shubman, the apple of his grandfather’s eyes, the first toy was a bat that the old man carved out of a tree trunk. “Shubman never liked any other toy,” said Lakhwinder. “He always loved playing with the bat and ball. He used to play with a cricket bat and ball even while going to bed.”
Leaving the secure and comfortable village life and farm lands in Fazilka, and settling in a new city like Mohali, wasn’t easy for the young Gill couple with two little ones in tow. But a father’s will can move even rocks. At times, it can have a downward-spiral effect, but if the son also sings from the same hymn sheet, it becomes easier. Both Lakhwinder and Shubman had the same dream. What the father imagined, the son made reality.
The start of this journey is fascinating, and a small but significant role was played by Karsan Ghavri, the former India left-arm seamer. In the case of Cheteshwar Pujara, his father Arvind had sought the advice of Ghavri – Kadoo bhai as he is affectionately known in cricketing circles – on whether to invest time and energy in his son’s career. He got positive feedback.
When it came to Shubman, it was completely the opposite, as it was Ghavri that told Lakhwinder that his son was a “special talent” who would go places if he worked hard. When we approached Kadoo bhai to know about Gill’s initiation into Punjab cricket’s mainstream, he had graciously agreed to share his thoughts. “I think it was 2009–10, and there was an all-India pace bowlers’ camp organised by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA),” recalled Ghavri. “Around 155 boys from in and around Punjab, and some from Bihar and Bengal had all come for that trial-cum-camp. They were all 18 to 19 years old. I remember Sandy (Sandeep Sharma, who now plays for Rajasthan Royals) was part of that camp.”
Ghavri, along with the team of coaches, first conducted an extensive physical training session for the boys, and then the skills part was supposed to start. “Now when the nets were supposed to start, I saw there weren’t any batsmen arranged by the PCA,” said Ghavri. “I spoke to Mr Pandove (Mahender Pandove, long-time PCA strongman) and Sushil Kapoor (longest-serving Punjab Ranji team manager), and asked them to arrange for some good batters. And they arranged.”
The practice was going on fine at the PCA practice facilities in Mohali when, on one of the days, it started drizzling steadily. They had to stop the nets. It would have taken some time to make the indoor facility operational. “That day, me and one of my assistant coaches felt that till the nets started, let’s take a walk around,” said Ghavri. “There was a nearby ground where we just casually went while taking a stroll. Now, there was a match going on there, and it was all 12 or 13-year-old boys playing. They didn’t stop, even in that steady drizzle on a wet pitch.
“But what caught my attention was one of the boys who was batting. The technique and the kind of shots he played caught my attention. Me and my assistant coach just couldn’t move. That boy captivated me with his strokes.”
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Ghavri wasn’t about to walk away. “It was very important to know about the boy, so we went around asking people, but nobody could tell us who he was,” he said. As Ghavri was leaving the ground, he saw one man standing under the shade of a tree, intensely watching the match. He thought that maybe he could help. “I went up to him and asked what he was doing, standing alone at one side. He answered, ‘My son is playing.’”
Ghavri immediately asked who his son was, and the man pointed to the boy that Ghavri so wanted to know about. “That’s my son Shubman, and he is 12 years old,” said Lakhwinder.
“I just told him that his son is a fantastic player and he should just send him to the PCA nets tomorrow,” recalled Ghavri. “In my mind, I wanted Shubman to face the 18-year-olds like Sandeep. Somewhere in my mind, I knew he can.”
The next day, young Shubman walked into the PCA nets to face the 18 and 19-year-olds. “He was fantastic,” said Ghavri. “For a 12 year old, he played straight and was not afraid of pace at that young age. They even bowled bouncers, but he wasn’t terrified. I told him, ‘Shubman tumko roz aana hai jitney din camp chalega (You need to come every day for the camp).’”
Call it irony. It was a camp to hunt for good fast bowlers, but what they got was a first-class batsman. “I enquired and found that Shubman wasn’t a part of the U-14 Punjab team,” said Ghavri. “I told Mr Pandove that he should immediately be put in that U-14 list. He was fantastic at that level, and there was no looking back after that. But after that, I had no role to play. What he achieved was his hard work and talent.”
Ghavri, one of the most humble men you could come across, would obviously put it that way. In fact, Shubman had later spoken about that camp which ended his fear of getting hit. “Ek baar ball aapko lag jaye toh darr khatam ho jata hai (Once you get hit by a ball, the fear of getting hurt goes away),” he had said in an interview with the website of Kolkata Knight Riders, his first IPL franchise.
Shubman Gill’s great adventure had well and truly begun. And this IPL has only added gloss to what can be a journey that defines Indian cricket for the next decade.
I gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Kushan Sarkar to the research for this piece, which was used for our book Mission Domination.
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